Apple’s iPhone 11 Pro models offer just a little bit extra, but some of those features matter a lot to extreme mobile users and pixel experts.
If the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max are out of your price range, check out the iPhone 11 review. It starts at only $700 and has many of the same features as the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max.
Apple never put the “Pro” label on an iPhone the way it does with MacBooks and iPads. But that all changed this year. For Apple’s other products, Pro often means better processors and bigger displays. The iPhone 11 Pro has the same processor as the iPhone 11, but its display is better. Apple touts the Pro phones’ impressive photo and video chops, but many of those features are also available on the iPhone 11. The only functional benefit is that third camera on the iPhone Pro, which is part of the intimidating three-camera array on the back of the iPhone 11 Pro phones. The iPhone 11 doesn’t have a third telephoto camera like the Pro does.
The best iPhone this year is the iPhone 11 Pro, but it’s mostly because it has a full package of slightly better antennas, a better battery, a higher-quality OLED display, that added telephoto camera and an 18-watt charger in the box. (That charger should have been included with the iPhone 11 too.) But in most instances, except for that camera, I’m not sure I’d need it. I felt the same way last year when I compared the iPhone XR with the iPhone XS.
Now that a few weeks have passed since reviewing the iPhones, I’ve gravitated to liking the smaller iPhone 11 Pro more than any other iPhone of this year’s bunch, just because it’s smaller and has that 2x telephoto. But for a lot of people, the nearly equally effective iPhone 11 will be more than enough. (Also, if you’re iPhone budget shopping, you may just want to wait for the reported iPhone SE 2 next spring, which could cost even less and have the same A13 processor.)
Read more: Apple Watch Series 5 review | Best cases for the iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max
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(Updated Oct. 11, 2019 with impressions after a few more weeks of use, and a new video shot on the 11 Pro Max.)
